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3.18.2012

On Femininity, Being One Dimensional and also Rei is Queen

Rei. Rei. Rei.

I don't even know where to BEGIN with her fall collection. It was flat. It was bold. It was charming in a way that you imagine maybe a kid drawing silhouettes around a human body and suddenly those silhouettes come to life and are real.

But it was serious. This was another collection that I categorize under "the new look for 2012" where women are taking what's expected for them to wear, what the "right clothes" and the "right look" is and blowing it out of proportion–literally.

You want me to be a lady and wear a proper skirt and a proper coat? I will. But no one else will be able to stand next to me. This is about taking the conventional and making yourself as visible as possible, this is no time to be quiet.

There's a bit of an assembly-line feeling in the clothes as well. You can imagine them all being mass produced by some weird fantastic machine that injects a goo into a mold and then a naked woman is brought along, and "popped" into it. She emerges with the edges that show her beginnings, she wears them as a sign of pride.

The weirdly asymmetric "plasticized" bob caps add to this feeling. Note the baby bangs. Baby bangs are still really important in 2012, it seems (and not because of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!)

The flat sleeves layered on to the equation are so incredible. They bring a slightly disjointed feeling, there is a definite deconstruction going on even though there is no actual deconstruction going on. Perhaps these clothes might seem a tad unrealistic for the real world to the untrained eye, but this little pink jacket could really revive your wardrobe and could probably go with everything from jeans to a fancy black-tie dress.

THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE MADE OF PAPER!

Or maybe felt.

It appeals to a very elementary (as in school, as in basic, as in youth) spot in my being.

Worn with little white roll-down socks and chunkly little clog-ish situations. It is subversive, let's face it, grown women should probably not really be wearing cute little white roll-down socks but when paired with an imposing red coat, the socks are merely an act of the wearer trying to throw a bone to the rest of society.

"I am as intimidating as you think I am but maybe I have a softer side"

The ankles. Still alluring even after we're allowed to show them off.

The prints that came afterwards took the whole collection another level. First with simple geometric shapes and then the explosion of florals that literally overtook everything.

"I might be silenced and hidden away but only in the loudest way possible"

Something about how subversiveness canis can be beautiful...

This is a pure Comme moment. Flat circles turned alive.

The delicate floral print coats that ended the show were my favorites, I think. Especially the last one, which seems like Virginal robes (you know, the layers that the Virgin Mary is always portrayed in) turned into a coat. Something to have and cherish forever.

As women everywhere are fighting for their rights to simply BE and keep being pushed into the background, the thing to remember is that for this year and maybe/hopefully all the ones after, we are to take up space. Take up all the space possible and be heard. This is our time.

GOG!! I lved this collection! I always love Comme, their so insperational and they always play with silhouettes perfectly... and this collection... ITS LIKE AN AMAZING PARTY OF CooL SHAPES AND BRIGHT COLORS!!! TOTES AWESOME!!!

This collection was my favorite (comme always is) this year... I really like that all of Rei's collection have a meaning you can derive from them.... many meanings, it adds depth to 1-D clothes which is really nice!! You make some great point here!!charlotte